American government is in a holding pattern right now. It’s a stalemate, a waiting game, a gerbil’s wheel. Everybody knows that Congress won’t approve new domestic proposals from Barack Obama; indeed, not even the Democratic Senate can pass Obama’s bills, because several Democrats keep defecting from what they view as politically suicidal approaches. But everybody also knows the Democratic Senate won’t pass any bills forwarded by the Republican House, and that Obama would likely veto anything substantial that does somehow sneak through. Obama, planning for his re-election, has decided his best route is to attack, attack, and attack, and to sharpen the ideological differences between him and his opponents. Republicans, convinced that Obama’s ideology is deeply unpopular, are perfectly happy to see him go that route – and perfectly happy, for reasons either principled or political, to oppose him.

So, here I am in Washington, D.C., this week, and of course Thursday's news is all about the death of Moammar Gadhafi. I catch a cab, and the cab driver immediately asks if I mind if we keep the BBC on the radio for the whole ride so he can hear the latest news from Libya. The driver is a black - not Arabic - African, very well dressed and very articulate, with only the slightest of accents, and his near-joyous excitement is palpable. He used to work in a U.N. building in one of the northern African countries, he says, and he once had occasion to see Gadhafi arrive with his retinue of more than 100, well-armed, female bodyguards, sweeping in and virtually taking over the place, creating a sense of fear in his wake.

In Tuesday's Washington Post, conservative columnist Marc A. Thiessen highlighted numerous reasons why Attorney General Eric Holder is an embarrassment and an "albatross" around President Obama's neck. Thiessen is right, but he only scratched the surface.

Few laws have ever caused so much confusion as Obamacare. Much of the general public is confused about whether it has taken effect yet, and if so, which parts. The public is rightly baffled about how it operates, or will operate when fully in force. Finally, the public is befuddled about all the lawsuits challenging Obamacare's constitutionality, and where those suits now stand.